When I was 5 or 6, my brother and I received a joint Christmas gift. It was a record player. My brother thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. I on the other hand could not have cared less. He also received one of those cheap plastic doctor’s kit. I really thought that the doctor’s kit was great. He really wanted to be the sole owner of the record player. So he traded me the doctors kit for my half of the record player. Monetarily speaking, the record player was of much greater value. When I grew a little older, I realized that I had really made a dumb deal. It just did not make sense.
Often times people just do not make sense. Ahaz did not do right in the sight of the Lord. Not only did he not do right, but he made his son pass through the fire. He was a spiritual adulterer. He ran after many other Gods. So when God sent Syria to punish him, he viewed it as Syria’s attempt to join with Israel to force them into an alliance against Assyria rather than the discipline of the Lord. Instead of repenting and turning to the Lord, He took the Lord’s gold and used it to buy an alliance with Assyria. Assyria came and defeated Syria. Ahaz’ plan worked. He decided to go to Damascus, the capital of Syria, defeated by Assyria. There he visited the temple of the god of the Syrians. In the pagan temple he sees an altar that he likes. He sends a description of it to Jerusalem and has the Lord’s altar moved and a new one like the pagan altar put in its place. What is more; the high priest of the Lord fully cooperates with him. They replace the altar of the Most High God with the altar of an ineffectual god. Why?
I can only assume that it was because Ahaz did not know the glory of the Lord. That is why it is so important that I see the glory of the Lord. If I don’t see it, I am bound to trade it for something worthless. I must continually ask myself, “Do I really see the value of the glory of the Lord?” Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
PSALM 123
The summer before my eighth grade school year, I went to a one-week-long Christian youth camp. The Holy Spirit began to convict me there that the Lord wanted me in a relationship with Him, not just my compulsory church attendance. I determined then that that was what I wanted. I did a thing that the Baptists call, ‘rededication.’ As much as I knew how at that age, I offered myself to our Lord. I knew that I should somehow be a witness for him, but did not know how to do it. So I began carrying my Bible with me to school as a declaration that I was a follower of Jesus. (I would have benefited much more if I would have read, studied and applied it as much as I carried it.)
The result was that among my peers, I developed a reputation. From a few it was a reputation of admiration. Most could not have cared less. Others held me in contempt. Some found ways to express their contempt by the statements they would make. Generally that contempt expressed itself in being ignored by those who did not want to follow Christ. It could be that they felt condemned by me. I hope not. I can honestly say that was never my intention. However, Friedrich Nietzsche, (a man whose philosophy I hold in contempt) said: “Man is more sensitive to the contempt that others feel towards him than to the contempt that he feels towards himself.” Perhaps that was true of me. I really don’t know. I hope it wasn’t true. One of the side benefits of that reputation was that I was never tempted by a peer to join in their immorality. Sometimes downside was a feeling of isolation. How should a follower of Jesus handle the contempt that Jesus and Paul said is bound to happen to a Christ follower?
Dictionary.com defines contempt as:
1. the feeling with which a person regards anything considered mean, vile, or worthless; disdain; scorn.As a believer in the USA, it is really the major kind of persecution that I have experienced for the name of Christ. The Psalmist is feeling that kind of contempt. He says, “I will lift up my eyes, O You who dwell in the Heavens.” The one place that he can gain relief from the contempt of His peers is gazing into the face of the Lord of glory. It is only in lifting up our eyes upon Him that we get the relief we need or desire from the contempt of others. Does that mean that He will take their contempt away? No! It means that when I have gazed upon His glory it changes me! Their contempt becomes a mute issue in comparison to the sweetness of His glory.
2. the state of being despised; dishonor; disgrace.
I have four dogs. Occasionally I feed them from what I am snacking on. Whenever they realize that I am snacking on something, they will surround me. Their eyes will be intently focused on the food in my hand. Wherever my hand goes, their eyes are following. They know that if they watch long enough and closely enough that they might receive some tasty morsel. When we are wounded by the contempt of others for the name of Christ, it is time to stare intently upon His glory until we receive the mercy we need from Him. When He reveals His glory to us, its sweetness causes all contempt of others to melt in comparison. Oh, He is sweet! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
MICAH 3
Because the Lord is just, he has set a chain of command in place in this corrupt human race. It is the duty of the leaders of a society to protect the poor, the innocent and the righteous. When the leaders corrupt their God-given role to twist it to their advantage, the anger of the Lord is engaged. The Lord is so furious with the leaders of Israel that he uses the simile of a butcher to describe the heinousness of their works. He describes them as cannibalistic fiends. As if they were preparing for a meal feasting on those whom they were charged to protect. Were they really doing this? Only in the most perverted of cultures does this ever happen. But the Lord is attempting to give greater impact upon the foulness of their works. Yet it appears that they did not heed the Lord’s warning.
Indeed they are unaware that the Lord no longer is among them. Happy with the money that they receive for ruling, teaching or prophesying, they continue on keeping up appearances that the Lord is among them, when He is far removed. But the Lord will not allow such nonsense, especially in His household. His glory is to plow them like a field. What do you do with a field that is unfruitful at the end of the season? You plow it under and start again attempting to use the appropriate seed, herbicides, pesticides, fertilizer, and irrigation in the next growing season. And so, the Lord does with His people. It is part of His glory.
Lord enable me to uproot any foreign seed in my life. Uproot any foreign seed in this congregation. Make us fit for growing the fruit which You desire. Make us a field that displays the pleasant aspects of your glory rather than the justice that brings recompense to our evil deeds! Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
PHILEMON
Jesus puts good things in us (v. 6). A good thing that Jesus placed in Philemon was a changed heart toward his property. He no longer grasped on to it as his own. But he recognized that everything he owned belonged to the Lord. Philemon was from Colossae and was a wealthy slave owner. Paul had lead Philemon to the Lord perhaps while in Ephesus. But perhaps he made a diversion to Colossae on his way through Phrygia to Ephesus on his third missionary journey (Acts 18:23; 19:1). Paul writes this letter to Philemon from jail in Rome. Apparently Philemon's slave, Onesimus, had run away to Rome. Somehow in the providence of God, Paul and Onesimus met up in Rome. Onesimus became a Christian. Paul was able to disciple Onesimus enabling him to grow in the Lord. Finally, the time came when the matter had to be dealt with. Legally, Onesimus was the property of Philemon. Spiritually, Onesimus was Philemon's brother. Paul did not command Philemon to free his brother. Rather he appealed to him on the basis of the good thing that Christ had put in Philemon's life. It was not a matter of law but a matter of love. How can one love his brother and treat him as a slave? You cannot.
Jesus also placed a good thing in the heart of Onesimus. Onesimus willingly went back to Philemon carrying this letter and the letter to the Colossians. He was willing to submit to an unjust authority. It is unjust that one man should own another man. But because of the 'good thing' Jesus placed in the life of Onesimus, he was willing to submit to the legal code of the Romans and return to Philemon. Philemon had the legal right to treat Onesimus in any manner that he desired, including death. Yet, Onesimus submitted to the legal authority of the government in which he lived. That Onesimus submitted, speaks volumes concerning the glory of our Lord.
Our Lord has placed every 'good thing' in you that you need. The question is do you realize it? I'm sure it took a while for Onesimus to realize it in himself. It took a while before he was willing to risk returning to Philemon. And Paul could have commanded Philemon to receive Onesimus as a brother. But he trusted in the glory of Christ that the 'good thing' was indeed planted in Philemon and Onesimus and their 'good deeds' (v. 14) would be out of willingness and not compulsion. Am I willing to endure or do anything for the sake of Christ? If I am, then it can only be because I have realized the 'good thing' he has placed in me. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John
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